Reset means for hand counters



Feb. 4, 1964 A. v. VEEN RESET MEANS FOR HAND COUNTERS Filed May 21, 1962FIG. 1

INVENTOR. ANTON VANVE EN lllll Fie.4

n-r-rorz Nay United States Patent 3,120,343 RESET MEANS FOR HANDQOUNTERS Anton Van Veen, Canton Center, Conn. Filed May 21, 1962, Ser.No. 126,184 3 Claims. (fil. 235144) This invention relates to countersor tallies and more particularly to an improved resetting means formanually operated counters adapted for use singly or in groups.

A primary object of the invention is to provide rapid but simpleresetting means for a single, hand-operated counter or for a group ofaligned hand-operated counters which will prevent an overturn of thedigit wheels during the resetting operation and will bring all digitwheels of a counter or group of counters simultaneously to their zeropositions.

Another object of importance of the invention is to provide means toreturn the digit wheel supporting and resetting shaft to its initialposition after this shaft has been rotated in a direction to reset alldigit wheels of a counter or group of counters to their zero positions.

More specifically it is an object of the present invention to providecounters such as shown and described in my Patents No. 2,572,784 grantedOctober 22, 1951, and No. 2,846,145 granted August 5, 1958, with theimproved digit wheel resetting means forming the subject matter of thepresent invention.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention may include thefeatures of construction and operation set forth in the followingspecification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

In the accompanying drawing annexed hereto and forming a part of thisspecification, I have shown the invention embodied in hand counters ofthe deep-notch type, but it will be understood that the drawing is notto be construed as defining or limiting the scope of the invention, theclaims appended to this specification being relied upon for thatpurpose.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a hand-operated counterincorporating the present invention, the section being taken on theplanes of the broken line 11 in FIG. 2, some of the digit wheels beingshown in section;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section of the counter shown in FIG. 1, thesection being taken on the plane of line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section of a part of a counter taken on the planeof line 3-3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a central longitudinal section of a counter generally similarto FIG. 1 showing a slightly different form of resetting return means;and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a group of aligned counters providedwith the present invention.

In the above mentioned drawing, there has been shown but one embodimentof the invention, and a slight modification thereof, which are nowdeemed preferable, but it is to be understood that other changes andmodifications may be made within the scope of the appended claimswithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the operation of counters of the manually operated type, it is usualto provide resetting means enabling the digit wheels of a singlecounter, or the digit wheels in each of a group of aligned counters, tobe simultaneously brought to their zero indicating positions. Thisresetting is done in counters of the type disclosed by rotating theshaft, or shafts when a group of counters is to be reset, on which thedigit wheels are rotatably mounted. In conventional counters of the typedisclosed, the shaft or shafts may be rotated continuously so that muchcare must be taken not to overrun the zero positions of the individualdigit wheels. It is to positively prevent this overrunning of theseveral digit wheels in the counter or counters during a resettingoperation that the mechanism hereinafter described has been devised.

Referring more particularly to the figures of the drawing, it will beseen that the counters comprise a bodymember or casing 10 Within which aplurality of digit wheels 12 are mounted on a common shaft 14. Operationof a cover member 16 for the body member 10 actuates an arm 18 to rotatethe several digit wheels 12 in the usual manner to effect tallyingoperation. As the above described members and their operation aresimilar to corresponding members in the above referred to patents,further description thereof is not deemed necessary.

The shaft 14 on which the digit wheels of the counter are individuallyrotatably mounted also forms the shaft for resetting the digit wheels totheir zero positions. During the operation of the counter whileeffecting a tallying operation, the reset shaft 14 for the digit wheels12 does not rotate. When a tallying operation has been completed, thereset shaft 14 is rotated and in turn positively rotates the digitwheels 12 to their zero indicating positions. Rotation of this shaft 14during a resetting operation is limited to slightly less than a singlerevolution to accomplish the objects of this invention. In one rotativeposition of the shaft 14, all digit wheels 12 of the counter, or groupof counters, are aligned with their zeros in view. Beyond thispredetermined position the shaft 14 or shafts may not be rotated. Thisis for the reason that a radially outwardly extending projection 20 on adisk or collar 22 secured to or forming part of the shaft 14 abutsagainst a projection 24 formed within the casing 19. This position ofshaft 14 is reached at the conclusion of the resetting operation atwhich time each of the digit wheels is in its zero indicating position.

To facilitate successive resetting operations, provision is preferablymade to return the shaft 14 or shafts to its or their initial positionswhile leaving the digit wheels 12 in their zero indicating positions.The shaft 14 or shafts therefore are in position to he again rotated intheir resetting direction without first manually rotating them in aretrograde direction.

This means to return the shaft 14 or shafts to their initial positionsafter a resetting operation may comprise a spiral spring 26 as shown inFIGS. 1, 3 and 4 formed preferably of wire or flat metal strip material.One end of the spring 26 is attached to a shaft 14 and the opposite endsuitably attached to the casing 10 as shown at 28. Normally the springmaintains the shaft 14 with the projection 20 formed on its collar 22against one side of the stop 24 provided within the casing 10. From thisposition the shaft 14 may be rotated manually until the projection 20 onthe collar 22 abuts against the opposite side of the stop 24 on thecasing 10 by which rotation the resetting operation is completed andeach wheel then will be in its zero indicating position.

During this resetting operation, rotation of the shaft 14 in thedirection indicated by the arrow in FIG. 2 successively picks up theindividual digit wheels which have been moved from their zero positionsduring the previous tallying operation as described in the abovementioned patents. When the shaft 14 has been rotated in its resettingdirection to engage its projection 20 with the stop 24 on the casing 10,all wheels that have been moved from their zero position will have beenpicked up by the engagement of their spring ends 30 with a recessedportion 32 of the shaft 14.

To actuate the reset shaft 14 of a counter to reset the digit wheels 12to their zero indicating positions, the shaft 14 may be provided with anaxial non-circular opening 34 through which may extend a correspondinglyshaped rod 36 having a knob 38 onv its outer end for manual operation-As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the inner portion of the rod 66 may bematerially reduced in. cross section to make it flexible and resilient.At its extreme inner end an extension 40 may be formed so that when inplace this inner end will snap over the end of the reset shaft 14 andretain the operative parts of the counter and itself in place.

When counters are used in multiple aligned arrangement, a single collar22 and projection 20 only may be employed on the shaft 14 of but onecounter to effect resetting the digit wheels of all counters of thegroup.

In multiple aligned arrangements of counters it is desirable tosimultaneously reset the wheels 12. of all counters of the groupsimultaneously. For this purpose a rod 42 of non-circular cross-sectionis passed through the shafts 14 of each counter of the group, as shownin FIG. 5. The shaft 14 of each counter when this is done must be in thesame rotative position, that is the notch 32 of all shafts 14 must be inalignment. By means of a knob 44 attached to the'rod 42 at one end, therod may be manually rotated to eifect the resetting operation of allcounters of the group. The shafts 104 of each counter of: a group arealways maintained in identical angular position; that is, when theresetting operation is completed each counter is brought to its zeroindicating position and further rotation of the rod 42 is prevented by aprojection 20 on at least one of the shafts 14 of the counters of thegroup abutting against a projection 2 formed or provided on the casingthereof.

FIG. 4 shows a slight modification of the counter shown in FIGS. 1 and3. In this figure the spring 26 for returning the shaft 14 is mounted onthe outside of the casing and the projection 20 on the shaft 14 engagesagainst a pin 46 extending inward from one of the end walls of thecasing 10'.

I claim as my invention: 7

1. A resetting device for manually-operated counters, comprising acasing, a plurality of coaxially mounted digit wheels therein, arotatable shaft on which said wheels are mounted for independentrotation, a ratchet connection between each Wheel and said shaft toeffect resetting operations, stop means to limit rotation of said shaftin one direction to a fixed position in which all wheels are rotated toindicate the same digit, and a helical spring surrounding said shaft andhaving its ends attached respectively tosaid casing and shaft to returnsaid shaft to its initial position.

2. A resetting device for manually-operated counters, comprising acasing, a plurality of co-axially mounted digit wheels therein, arotatable shaft on which said wheels are mounted for independentrotation, a ratchet connection 'betwen each wheel and said shaft toeffect resetting operations, a projection on said shaft engaging a stopin the wall of said casing to limit rotation of said shaft to a fixedposition in one direction, and a helical spring having its endsrespectively attached to said shaft and said casing to return said shaftto its initial position.

3. A resetting device for manually-operated counters, comprising acasing, a plurality of coaXially mounted digit wheels therein, arotatable shaft on which said wheels are mounted for independentrotation, a ratchet connection betwen each wheel and said shaft toeffect resetting Operations, spring means engaging a longiutdinal notchin said shaft to limit rotation of said shaft to a fixed position in onedirection in which position all wheels indicate the same digit, and ahelical spring surrounding said shaft having one end attached to saidshaft and the other end attached to said casing to return said shaft toits initial position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

1. A RESETTING DEVICE FOR MANUALLY-OPERATED COUNTERS, COMPRISING ACASING, A PLURALITY OF COAXIALLY MOUNTED DIGIT WHEELS THEREIN, AROTATABLE SHAFT ON WHICH SAID WHEELS ARE MOUNTED FOR INDEPENDENTROTATION, A RATCHET CONNECTION BETWEEN EACH WHEEL AND SAID SHAFT TOEFFECT RESETTING OPERATIONS, STOP MEANS TO LIMIT ROTATION OF SAID SHAFTIN ONE DIRECTION TO A FIXED POSITION IN WHICH ALL WHEELS ARE ROTATED TOINDICATE THE SAME DIGIT, AND A HELICAL SPRING SURROUNDING SAID SHAFT ANDHAVING ITS ENDS ATTACHED RESPECTIVELY TO SAID CASING AND SHAFT TO RETURNSAID SHAFT TO ITS INITIAL POSITION.